Furnace equipment



March 24, 1970 os'rfiows l 3,502,315

FURNACE EQUIPMENT Filed Dec. 7, 1967 FIGS INVENTOR EDWARD J. OSTROIISKIATTORNEY United States Patent O US. Cl. 266-41 11 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE Tuyeres and the like articles include a baffie arrangementwhich splits a stream of cooling water into two portions and conductsone portion to the hot end of a cooling chamber in the article. Theother portion passes into the back of the cooling chamber. The oneportion is formed into components which are directed in oppositedirections into the cooling chamber and improve heat exchange in thehottest region of the chamber. If the hot end of the article is cut awayby material in the furnace, the water entering the back of the chamberstill effects partial cooling. Orientation of the article with outlet at12 oclock assures complete filling of the cooling chamber. The paths ofthe cooling fluid in the chamber are free of obstructions, to avoidformation of spaces void of cooling fluid in the chamber.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to furnace equipment,and more particularly to tuyeres, monkeys and like apparatus forfurnaces.

The service life of a tuyere, monkey or like article is dependent uponproper water cooling. Such an article usually comprises a body of highthermal conductivity having an annular cooling chamber. The chambersurrounds a passage for conducting fluids to or from a furnace interior.conventionally, spaced water inlet and outlet openings communicatingwith the chamber are formed in the body at the back, i.e., the sidewhich faces away from the furnace interior. With this arrangement, muchof the water passes more or less directly from the inlet to the outlet.This flow pattern provides excellent cooling at the back of the body,but water in the chamber at the front of the body, i.e., the hot end, isrelatively stagnant. Heat exchange is poorest where the need for maximumheat transfer is greatest.

To overcome this problem, the prior art has devised various directionalbafile arrangements. It has been proposed to provide baffles in thecooling chamber to direct incoming water to the front of the body, fromwhich the cooling fluid flows to the back for discharge. This improvesheat exchange, but is disadvantageous because all cooling fluid isdumped into the furnace without cooling either the back or front of thebody when the front of the body is cut away by material in the furnace.

Other previous proposals have provided a multiplicity of interleavedbafiles in the cooling chamber to guide the coolant in a sinusoidal flowpath circumferentially around the body. These tortuous-path, multipasstuyeres have the disadvantage that spaces void of cooling fluid appearalong the passageways and on the surfaces of the baflles, so that thechamber is not completely filled. Heat exchange across the void spacesbetween the body and the cooling fluid is very poor.

Accordingly, an object of the invention is the provision of structurefor tuyeres and like articles which obtain improved heat exchange,particularly in the hottest region of the article.

Another object of the invention is the provision of improved structurefor tuyeres and like articles which permits partial cooling even thoughthe front of the article is cut away.

Other objects of the invention will appear from the following detaileddescription which, when considered in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, describes a preferred embodiment of the invention for purposesof illustration only. For definition of the scope of the invention,references will be made to the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGURE 4 is a view on section line 44of FIGURE 3; and

FIGURE 5 is an isometric, cross-sectional view of the tuyere of FIGURE1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In FIGURES 1 and 2, a tuyeregenerally indicated at 10 comprises a body 12 having a generallycircular crosssectional configuration. Body 12 is made from copper orother material of high thermal conductivity, and has a back end portiongenerally indicated at 14 and a front end portion generally indicated at16. Continuous surfaces 18 of body 12 form an elongated passage 20 forconducting a hot blast to the interior of a blast furnace.

A generally toroidal cooling chamber 22, surrounding passage 20, isformed in body 12. Generally cylindrical, internal surfaces 21, 23 ofbody 12 form radially inner and outer walls of the chamber. Annularchamber 22 includes a back end portion generally indicated at 24 and afront end portion generally indicated at 26. Annular back and nose walls28, 30, respectively, close the end portions of chamber 22. The lowerportion of nose wall 30 is recessed for minimum exposure to cutting bymaterial in the furnace. Water inlet and outlet Openings 32, 34,respectively, are formed in back wall 28 with outlet 34 spaced frominlet 32 a distance of about The inlet and outlet Openings are threadedfor connection to supply and discharge conduits (not shown).

Opposed, generally parallel baflle members 36, 38 (see also FIGURES 3,4, 5) extend longitudinally relative to passageway 20 and form sidewallsof a passageway 40. B-aflle 36 has an edge 42 extending across inlet 32,and baffle 38 is in sealed relationship with back wall 24 closelyadjacent one side of inlet 32. Edge 42 of baflle 36 splits an inletstream into major and minor portions. The major portion flows throughpassageway 40 to nose end portion 26 of chamber 22. The minor portionflows into back end portion 24 of chamber 22 through a passageway 44(FIGURE 2) formed by baifle 36 and walls of chamber 22. Edge 42 ofbaflle 36 is spaced longitudinally from back wall 24, but is close tothe back wall to divide the incoming stream.

Baflles 36, 38 extend into nose end portion 26 of chamber 22 and haveterminal edges 46, 48 generally equidistantly spaced from nose end wall30 of body 12. Edges 46, 48 define sides of a discharge opening 50 inpassageway 40 (FIGURE Discharge opening 50 is opposile a portion(generally indicated at 52) of nose wall 30. The stream of fluidemerging from discharge opening 50 is projected against wall portion 52,and converted into two oppositely directed components which pass intonose end portion 26 of chamber 22. In effect, the stream is shattered ordivided upon striking wall portion 52, and the confining walls of thechamber form two substreams from the divided stream and direct thesubstreams between the ends of the baflles and wall portion 52 inopposite directions transverse to blast passage 20.

In use, tuyere is installed in an iron blast furnace in the orientationillustrated in FIGURE 1. This orientation places outlet 34 at a 12oclock position, and is advantageous in assuring complete filling of thetuyere. The orientation with outlet 34 at 12 oclock places inlet 32 at7:30 oclock, since the inlet is spaced about 135 from the outlet in theillustrated embodiment. However, a preferred range for the spacingbetween inlet and outlet is from about 135 to about 180.

A stream of water under pressure is passed through inlet 32 and split byedge 42 of baffle 36. Most of the cooling water, preferably abouttwo-thirds, flows in a stream through passageway. 40 This stream emergesthrough opening 50 and is converted into two components which aredirected in opposite directions as shown by directional arrows 54, 56into chamber 22. The remaining fraction of the inlet stream passesthrough passageway 44 as shown by directional arrow 58. All threestreams are confined by the walls of chamber 22 in generally spiralpaths which are free of obstructions and converge on outlet 34 fordischarge of the cooling fluid from the chamber.

Apparatus according to the invention is highly advantageous. Coolingfluid is directed to the front of the cooling chamber to provide moreeffective heat exchange in the region where cooling is most needed. Thishas been achieved without the disadvantage of discharging all water intothe furnace when the front of the body fails. Even when the front wallis cut, the article receives sufiicient cooling by the stream enteringthe back of the cooling chamber to prevent a hazardous condition fromdeveloping before the article can be replaced. Since the flow paths ofthe cooling fluid are not sinusoidal, but rather, the fluid flowsthrough an open chamber free of obstructions after leaving thepassageways formed by baffles 36, 38, the disadvantages of multipasstuyeres in establishing spaces void of cooling fluid along interleavedbaflies and passageways are avoided. The inventive construction assurescomplete filling of the cooling chamber. Further, splitting of thestream in articles according to the invention generates a relativelyturbulent flow condition which minimizes sediment deposition.

Although the invention has been described in connection with a preferredembodiment, modifications of that embodiment can be made withoutdeparting from the principles of the invention. Such modifications arewithin the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Furnace apparatus, comprising:

a body having opposite first and second end portions,

means forming a passage extending through the body from the first endportion to the second end portion,

means forming a chamber in the body, the chamber having a first endportion at the first end portion of the body and a second end portion atthe second end portion of the body,

means forming a fluid inlet opening in the body at the first end portionof the chamber,

means forming a first passageway communicating with the fluid inletopening for conducting a first stream of cooling fluid from the fluidinlet opening to the second end portion of the chamber,

means forming a second passageway communicating with the fluid inletopening for conducting a second stream of cooling fluid from the fluidinlet opening into the first end portion of the chamber,

converting means for converting the first stream into components passingin opposite directions transverse to the passage and into the second endportion of the chamber, and

outlet means for discharging cooling fluid from the 2. The apparatus ofclaim 1,

chamber.

the first passageway being located in the chamber and extendinglongitudinally relative to the passage.

3. The apparatus of claim 2,

the means forming the first passageway including opposed first andsecond baflle members, and

the first baflle member having an edge extending across the fluid inletopening.

4. The apparatus of claim 3,

the edge of the first baflle member comprising means for splitting afluid inlet stream into a major portion comprising said first stream,and a minor portion comprising said second stream.

5. The apparatus of claim 3,

the body having an end wall closing the first end portion of thechamber,

the fluid inlet opening being formed in the end wall,

the edge of the first baflle member being spaced from the end wall.

6. The apparatus of claim 3,

the second baffle member being in sealed relationship with the bodyclosely adjacent one side of the fluid inlet opening.

7. The apparatus of claim 3,

the body having a first end wall closing the first end portion of thechamber and a second end wall closing the second end portion of thechamber,

the first and second baffie members having terminal portions in thesecond end portion of the chamber, and

the terminal portions of the bafiles being spaced from the second endwall and defining a discharge opening in the first passageway.

8. The apparatus of claim 7,

the converting means including means for dividing the first stream intofirst and second components and directing the components in oppositedirections transverse to the passage between the terminal portions ofthe balfie members and the second end Wall into the second end portionof the chamber.

9. The apparatus of claim 7,

the converting means including a portion of the second end wall oppositethe discharge opening.

.10. The apparatus of claim 2,

the body having a generally circular cross-sectional configuration andan annular end wall closing the first end portion of the chamber,

the chamber surrounding the passage,

the fluid inlet opening being formed in the end wall,

and

the outlet means comprising means forming an outlet opening in the endwall,

the outlet opening being spaced from the inlet opening a distance offrom about to about 11. The apparatus of claim 1,

5 6 the means forming the chamber including means for 2,501,265 3/1950Diaz 266-41 confining the cooling fluid in paths toward the out-2,705,000 3/1955 Kinney 122-66 let means, 3,052,219 8/1962 Haack 266-41X the chamber being free of obstructions in the paths of 3,234,9192/1966 Troy 122-6.6

the cooling fluid. 5

J. SPENCER OVERHOLSER, Primary Examiner References Cited J. S. BROWN,Assistant Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,772,864 8/1930 Haven 1226.6

1,962,593 6/1934 Henry 266-41 X 10 122-6.6

Patent: No. Dated M rch 24,

Inventor(s) Edward J. Ostrowski It is certified that error appears inthe above1dentif1ed patent and that said Letters Patent are herebycorrected as shown below:

Column 4, line 19, after "the" insert chamber Column 4, line 21, cancelchamber SIGNED AM SEALED sEP 151910 (SEAL) Am man-M v I! In um m 0mmOomiaaiom ofratontu

